SOUTH KOREA
Lee warns over economy
President Lee Myung-bak yesterday said growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy may slow in the second half of the year as Europe’s debt crisis takes a toll on the country’s exports. Lee told his Cabinet that the government must be thoroughly prepared because the current situation would not be easy to deal with. He said the government’s earlier forecast that the local economy would pick up toward the end of the year might not hold. In April, the central bank cut its annual growth forecast by 0.2 percentage point to 3.5 percent.
INTERNET
Google buying Meebo
Google is buying Silicon Valley startup Meebo to help expand its social networking service. The acquisition announced on Monday will bring more tools to Google Plus, an alternative to Facebook Inc’s popular online hangout. Meebo started as a system for connecting people by instant message, but has since built other communication features used by an audience of about 100 million Web people in the US. Both companies are based in Mountain View, California. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
MACAU
Wynn plans second resort
US casino magnate Steve Wynn said he would spend US$4 billion to build his long-awaited second resort in Macau. Wynn yesterday unveiled plans for the project, which won government approval early last month. The 2,000-suite casino-hotel will house 500 gaming tables, 10 restaurants and a spa. The development will be built on 126 hectares of reclaimed land and will take up to four years to complete.
AVIATION
Etihad buys Virgin stake
Abu Dhabi’s fast-growing Etihad Airways says it has bought nearly 4 percent of Virgin Australia, deepening its partnership with the Australian carrier. The deal marks the fourth publicly disclosed stake Etihad has taken in an overseas airline in recent months. Etihad yesterday said it bought the 3.96 percent stake on the open market in recent weeks. Financial terms were not disclosed. The companies have an existing partnership signed in 2010 designed to boost commercial ties between the carriers.
BREWERIES
Suntory, Tsingtao link up
Japanese beverage giant Suntory will form a joint venture with Chinese brewer Tsingtao in a move aimed at expanding its reach in the world’s biggest beer market, reports said yesterday. The pair are expected to form the 50-50 venture as early as this year to jointly produce and market beer in Shanghai and China’s Jiangsu Province, the Nikkei Shimbun said. The new business is expected to take over management of Suntory’s existing Chinese beer unit, which has a near one-third share of the Shanghai market, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
EUROZONE
PMI tumbles sharply
Eurozone private sector activity suffered its worst monthly slide in nearly three years last month, a survey showed yesterday. The full purchasing managers’ index (PMI) compiled by the London-based research firm Markit fell to 46.0 points from 46.7 in April in what amounted to the fastest rate of decline since June 2009. Any score below 50 indicates economic contraction. The results showed that German output fell for the first time since November last year and that downturns in France and Spain accelerated, with Italy firmly mired in a steep downturn.
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
‘BASICALLY A BAN’: Sources said the wording governing H200 imports from officials was severe, but added that the regulations might change if the situation evolves Chinese customs authorities told customs agents this week that Nvidia Corp’s H200 artificial intelligence (AI) chips are not permitted to enter China, three people briefed on the matter said. Chinese government officials also summoned domestic technology companies to meetings on Tuesday, at which they were explicitly instructed not to purchase the chips unless necessary, two of the people and a third source said. “The wording from the officials is so severe that it is basically a ban for now, though this might change in the future should things evolve,” one of the people said. The H200, Nvidia’s second-most powerful AI chip, is one
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